It’s time for archaeology : let’s exhume 4 or 5 applications that ran on Windows 95 and try to make a nice freeware virtual studio for dance / techno / jungle production.
the first thing we need is a good solid hard kicking BEAT BOX :
1. HammerHead Rhythm Station v 1.0 by Bram Bos
Rhythm device for the headstrong
Download it here : http://www.threechords.com/hammerhead/download.shtml
Old school beat !
This rhythm making software is basic and come with rock solid drum kit : 909 oriented, with hard & hardcore bass drum + closed hihat / open hihat / claps / snare & some nice breakbeats.
- there are 6 slots for user sounds.
- the user interface is straight forward, 909 style, it takes about 0.2 seconds to understand and master it.
- there is distorsion unit (per sample)
- you can also reverse the sound
- the shuffle slider adds some groove to your beats !
- tempo up to 250 BPM,etc..
The software come with funky presets : hip hop beat , jungle beat, hardcore gabber rhythm…
of course, it lacks some of refinements we found on our “modern” plugins, like time stretch / slice , accents, filters etc.. But from the limitation come the creation!
Now that we have a good pumpin’ beat, we want some drivin’ TB303’s aciiid bassline:
2. RubberDuck 2.12 by D-Lusion
RubberDuck TB 303 emulation for funky people
Download it here ! => http://www.d-lusion.com/DownloadRubberduck.html
some random note, amen break & knob tweaking :
One of the first (if not the first !) real time TB 303 software emulation for Windows.
Choose the classic saw or square waveform for instant ACID action. Or choose/create hybrid waveforms for experimenting.
- 16 step sequencer / 16 patterns
- accents and slide
- distorsion for hard acid techno trance
- delay effect
- sample player
- funky randomizator, tons of nice presets and plenty of good things !
What about some Kraftwerk / Daft Punk / many funk band VOCODER real time action now ?
3. Cyclonix Vocoder V2
You dropped a bomb on me
Download : http://www.cylonix.com/programs/cylxv200.zip
Information : http://www.cylonix.com/windows_vocoder.html
Vintage vocoding ?
Another gem from the windows 95 era that is free now and work flawlessly : it takes the sounds from your microphone input and output the vocoderized sound !
come with :
- built-in synth with predefined : pulse, chord1, chord2 or noise for carrier
- extern mode : use soundcard input for carrier
- you can load wav for carrier & modulator
- pitch tracking
- gain control for modulator & carrier
- echo /delay effects
- MIDI control
- and many more !
The manual has been converted to PDF here : documentation
because .hlp Microsoft format doesn’t work anymore on last version of Windows.
Synth ! Synth ! Synthesizer ! SYNTH NOW :
4. AXS Free version
AXS synth : let’s go techno
It’s here : http://www.resolutionaudio.nl/
Direct download : http://www.resolutionaudio.nl/Files/Axs_For_Windows_Beta_4.zip
AXS is a real time software synthesizer with :
- two oscillators with classic waveforms : sin / triangle / saw / pulse / square and PWM
- LP / HP / BP / BR filter
- envelope for filter / pitch / gain
- two LFO
- effect unit with delay / reverb
- tracker sequencer & sample playing
- many more !
It has a nice interface, and the sound is good.
There also TS-404 that deserves to be mentionned.
Note :
These softwares are also working in latest versions of Windows !
It has been tested on Windows XP and also should work with Windows 7 and Windows 8
And they will certainly not eat all your CPU..